A real estate development firm that focuses on building new residential projects in brownstone Brooklyn—where ground-up construction is hard to find—has begun its next project.

Avery Hall Investments secured an $18.75 million construction loan from Bank Leumi USA to finance a luxury eight-unit condo at 325 Henry St. The firm broke ground on the Cobble Hill project last week.

The four-story project, which Avery Hall is developing in partnership with OTL Enterprises and Allegra Holding, will rise on the site of a former Shell gas station on the corner of Henry Street and Atlantic Avenue, part of an exclusive residential enclave in Brooklyn. Both the building’s interior and exterior were designed by BKSK Architects. The developers plan to finish the building by early 2018.

Avery Hall has had recent success in the neighborhood. The firm, in partnership with ARIA Development Group, is in the process of constructing a 30-unit condo at 465 Pacific St., where it has already presold all of the property’s apartments, which range in price from just under $1 million to nearly $5 million. The seven-story property is near its latest Henry Street project.

"There has been a lot of discussion about the slowdown in the luxury market, but we are building in areas where it is very hard to create new residential space and the demand is strong,” said Avi Fisher, who founded Avery Hall with business partner Brian Ezra. “Every apartment at 465 Pacific was sold within 90 days, and we already have several offers at 325 Henry."

Fisher said the apartments at 325 Henry St. will range in size from two to five bedrooms and cost between $2 million and $5.5 million. In 2014, Avery Hall purchased the site for $7.75 million and estimates the project will cost more than $30 million to develop.

The firm needed approval from the Board of Standards and Appeals in order to include retail space at the base of the property, which originally wasn’t permitted by the site’s zoning.

"Almost every other property along Atlantic Avenue has retail space," said Fisher. About 8,000 square feet of store space are planned for 325 Henry St. The building will also have an automated eight-car garage. Corcoran is handling sales at the property.

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